Miami product breaks records at Duke

November 22, 2012|By Michael Casagrande, Sun Sentinel

CORAL GABLES — Growing up in Miami, Conner Vernon always wanted to be a Hurricane.

He just never got the call, so he want on to break the ACC receiving record somewhere else. Entering his final regular-season game at Duke, Vernon — a Gulliver Prep graduate — gets one last shot at the Hurricanes. Miami CB Brandon McGee looks forward to seeing his old 7-on-7 teammate at 12:30 in Wallace Wade Stadium.

"Being that I have a relationship with him, it's nice seeing one of your friends having the success he's having," McGee said.

That included setting new league records for catches and receiving yards. He bettered former Florida State Seminole Peter Warrick's league yardage mark last week at Georgia Tech, though his production has slipped recently. Duke coach David Cutcliffe said he hasn't been at full speed and missed a lot of practice time recently.

After grabbing six passes for 124 yards in a win over North Carolina, Vernon's best game in the last three included just 47 yards and five catches at Clemson. Duke lost each of those three games, but UM coach Al Golden said Vernon will be ready for the `Canes.

"I think he's crafty," Golden said. "I think he's got an excellent skill set. He's obviously cultivated his skills at Duke. They use him really well. He has a surprisingly good average for the number of catches that he has. . . . He finds ways to get open and catches the ball, and he's got speed. He's got real speed."